eam to come true, as it had only a short month ago when Phyllis, too
happy for words, had jumped off the train at Old Chester and into the
arms of her twin.

It had been an exciting month as Miss Carter reviewed it, and with all
her heart she wanted the happiness that both girls looked forward to
for the coming winter to be assured.

"If we can only keep Janet from feeling shy and different from the
other girls it will be all right," she said at last, and fell to gazing
into the fire again.

Phyllis, already well on her walk in the park, was busy with the same
thoughts. They were more concrete in form, but they amounted to the
same thing. She knew that she could be happy with Janet and keep her
from being homesick, but the thought of the other girls at school made
her uneasy. They were nice girls, all of them, and they were all fond
of Phyllis, and for her sake she knew they would be nice to her twin,
but Phyllis was not satisfied to let the matter drop there. She wanted
the girls to accept Janet on her own merit.

The roguish autumn wind was playing tricks with the dead brown leaves,
swirling them about regardless of passers-by. One especially gusty
little gale made Phyllis duck her head so low that she did not gee
where she was going. She bumped into something small unexpectedly, and
an angry voice startled her out of her revery.

"Now, I've lost it for good. Why don't you look what you're about?
Nurse says it's rude to jostle."

Phyllis looked down into two very angry blue eyes which, except for a
glimpse of ruddy cheeks almost hidden by a fur cap, were all that was
visible of the chubby face before her.

CHAPTER II

DON

She tried hard not to smile. She loved and understood children, and
one of the chief reasons that they always returned her love with
interest was that she always took them seriously.

"Oh, I'm so very sorry," she apologized humbly; "perhaps I can help you
find it again. What was it you lost?"

"It were a brownie, a brown leaf brownie wiv crinkly legs, and I were
following it and now--"

"And now I've chased it away. Isn't that a shame." Phyllis was very
serious. "But, do you know, I think it was the brownie's own fault. I
felt something a minute ago, just punching and kicking at my face, and
I thought perhaps it was an ordinary leaf but of course it couldn't
have been."

"It were my brownie,"--the blue eyes wrinkled up at the end of an
impish grin. "Did it kick